Comparative Analysis of the Fecal Bacterial Microbiota of Wintering Whooper Swans (Cygnus Cygnus)

Wenxia Wang,Liangliang Yang,Guogang Zhang,Songlin Huang

doi:10.3389/fvets.2021.670645

Abstract

There are many and diverse intestinal microbiota, and they are closely related to various physiological functions of the body. They directly participate in the host's food digestion, nutrient absorption, energy metabolism, immune response, and many other physiological activities and are also related to the occurrence of many diseases. The intestinal microbiota are extremely important for maintaining normal physical health. In order to explore the composition and differences of the intestinal microbiota of whooper swans in different wintering areas, we collected fecal samples of whooper swans in Sanmenxia, Henan, and Rongcheng, Shandong, and we used the Illumina HiSeq platform to perform high-throughput sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes. Comparison between Sanmenxia and Rongcheng showed no significant differences in ACE, Chao 1, Simpson, and Shannon indices (p > 0.05). Beta diversity results showed significant differences in bacterial communities between two groups [analysis of similarity (ANOSIM): R = 0.80, p = 0.011]. Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) analysis showed that at the phylum level, the relative abundance of Actinobacteria was significantly higher in Sanmenxia whooper swans than Rongcheng whooper swans. At the genus level, the amount of Psychrobacter and Carnobacterium in Sanmenxia was significantly higher in Rongcheng, while the relative abundance Catellicoccus and Lactobacillus was significantly higher in Rongcheng than in Sanmenxia. This study analyzed the composition, characteristics, and differences of the intestinal microbiota of the whooper swans in different wintering environments and provided theoretical support for further exploring the relationship between the intestinal microbiota of the whooper swans and the external environment. And it played an important role in the overwintering physiology and ecology, population management, and epidemic prevention and control of whooper swans.

Highlights

Whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus) is a large migratory bird of Anatidae Cygnus, Anseriformes
The rarefaction curve showed that increasing the sequencing depth can obtain more operational taxonomic units (OTUs) (Figure 2A), while the sparse curve of Shannon’s index showed that the bacterial diversity of all samples has reached a plateau, and deeper sequencing has no significant impact on diversity (Figure 2B)
There is no related research on the intestinal microbiota of whooper swans of different wintering places

Summary

Introduction

Whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus) is a large migratory bird of Anatidae Cygnus, Anseriformes. It is a national level II key protected wildlife in China and is classified as vulnerable (V) by the “China Red Book of Endangered Animals · Birds.”. Rongcheng Whooper Swan Nature Reserve is one of the largest wintering habitats of whooper swans in the world. Whooper swan is the largest bird in the reserve, a representative bird of Anseriformes living in the reserve in winter, and an important indicator species in the swan lake wetland [4]. Whooper swans have become a representative of the wintering birds in Sanmenxia Swan National Wetland Park

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Conclusion